Today, 200 billion pounds (100 million tons) of plastics are produced worldwide every year. Plastics are used for packaging, building materials, and virtually every type of consumer product. Virtually all plastics are made from nonrenewable resources, such as oil, coal or natural gas, which will eventually become exhausted. Accordingly, plastics are the focus of an emerging industry focused on making convenient living consistent with environmental stability. One reason to make a shift toward the use of green plastics is the availability of raw materials. Another favorable property of some green plastics is their biodegradability, making them a natural material for use in such applications as compostable collection bags, such as for food or yard waste.
However, bioplastics have to possess adequate physical properties. Their properties have to be managed and controlled with technological means through the development of adequate formulations and plastics processing. Furthermore, bioplastics also have to be cost-competitive. Commercially available biopolymers are typically more expensive than synthetic polymers, often significantly so.
Therefore, a need exists to develop technologies to form plastic materials from green technologies.